Working the Case

20

♥︎𝙴𝚟𝚒𝚎♥︎

Beckett hums to himself, nodding as he chews and inspects the same burger we've had for far too many days now.

I stare blankly at him while he eats happily. He's weird and eats his like a goddamn chipmunk.

A piece of lettuce falls from the mess that is his burger. I'm left to watch in horror as he looks down at the lettuce that fell right onto the table and picks it up to return it back to the hamburger.

"That's disgusting."

"Quit shaming me, Evie. Let me eat my fucking food."

Adler glances at us at the sound of cursing. I scoff at Beckett. "I wasn't shaming." I dryly point out.

"Stop it." Adler scolds. I shake my head simply as I set my hamburger back down into the wrap it came in, pretty much done with it anyway.

I'm just surprised Beckett hasn't called in sick more often.

"We're all tired." Adler sighs dreadfully as he glances around the table at us. As if on cue, Mills lets out a particularly loud snore. Adler slowly looks at her, seemingly unaware she fell asleep when she dropped her head onto the table twenty minutes ago.

Jennings presses her lips together, awkwardly glancing at Mills beside her. "It's just a cat-nap." She assures quietly.

"Hm." Adler acknowledges. "It's time to go back to the inn." He decides with a short nod. "We've done what we can for today. We can't continue on if we all fall asleep." He dryly adds, glancing at Mills again. Only briefly.

"We should keep working." Beckett argues immediately. "We're close here."

"We're not." Jennings dryly argues. Beckett huffs sharply as he looks over. "We don't have anything. We're basically at a dead end." She continues. "Meanwhile he's gone dormant."

"So, what? We give up?" Beckett scoffs.

I sigh dreadfully. "He's right." I decide. "We can't just give up on this because we hit a dead end. We've never done that before—Why start now?"

"Mills is asleep." Jennings points her thumb towards Mills beside her. "She is not working right now. We could at least send her back."

"Agreed." Adler sighs. "We all should go. Just for tonight." He pinches his nose bridge as he speaks, apparently unhappy with himself over his own decision.

Beckett and I share a short look. He shakes his head, but starts to get up. I huff quietly as I do the same.

It's annoying that we're at a dead end. This isn't the most difficult case we've ever been on, and we hit dead ends almost all the time. I think it's just more annoying now that I personally know someone who's been directly effected.

So, maybe a break isn't as bad as we think it is. Just a short one. Similar to how you blink to clear your focus on something you've been staring at for too long. It's necessary.

With a sigh, Jennings reaches over to nudge Mills a few times to get her up. Either way, Mills needs to be awake right now.

Begrudgingly, Mills lifts her head with a grumble. "What?" She mumbles, pissed off now that she's been woken up.

"Come on. We're going back to the inn." Jennings coaxes, nudging her shoulder one more time as she starts getting up. Beckett and I are just as reluctant to get up as Mills is, but for a different reason. Neither of us are quite ready to stop for the night.

It's almost twelve at night anyway. It's pretty much been all night, and we need to get up at seven. Is it really going to make that much of a difference if we stop now? The answer to that question doesn't matter. Adler stands from the table and watches Beckett and I, prepared to sit here until we leave.